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UN health chief orders probe into misconduct

The head of the World Health Organization has ordered an internal probe into allegations that the agency is rife with racism, sexism and corruption after a series of anonymous emails with the explosive charges were sent to top managers.

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The head of WHO has ordered an investigation into allegations of racism and other scandals

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2018. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/keystone/AP)

The head of the World Health Organization has ordered an internal investigation into allegations the U.N. health agency is rife with racism, sexism and corruption, after a series of anonymous emails with the explosive charges were sent to top managers last year.

Three emails addressed to WHO directors — and obtained by the Associated Press — complained about "systematic racial discrimination" against African staffers and alleged other instances of wrongdoing, including claims that some of the money intended to fight Ebola in Congo was misspent.

Last month, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told staffers he had instructed the head of WHO's office of internal oversight to look into the charges raised by the emails. He confirmed that directive to the AP on Thursday.

A WHO statement issued after the AP story was published said the agency was "aware" of such allegations and has "zero tolerance for misconduct or discrimination of any kind." The statement said Tedros has "championed openness, transparency and diversity" since he became WHO's chief.

However, critics doubt that WHO can effectively investigate itself and have called for the probe to be made public.

The first email, which was sent last April, claimed there was "systematic racial discrimination against Africans at WHO" and that African staffers were being "abused, sworn at (and) shown contempt to" by their Geneva-based colleagues.

Two further emails addressed to WHO directors complained that senior officials were "attempting to stifle" investigations into such problems and also alleged other instances of wrongdoing, including allegedly misspent Ebola funds.

The last email, sent in December, labeled the behavior of a senior doctor helping to lead the response against Ebola as "unacceptable, unprofessional and racist," citing a November incident at a meeting where the doctor reportedly "humiliated, disgraced and belittled" a subordinate from the Middle East.

Tedros — a former health minister of Ethiopia and WHO's first African director-general — said investigators looking into the charges "have all my support" and that he would provide more resources if necessary.

'There is change already happening'

"To those that are giving us feedback, thank you," he told a meeting of WHO's country representatives in Nairobi last month. "We will do everything to correct [it] if there are problems."

But Tedros refuted claims that WHO's hiring policies are skewed, arguing that his top management team was more geographically diverse and gender-balanced than any other U.N. organization after adopting measures to be more inclusive.

"There is change already happening," he said during the December staff meeting, according to an audio recording provided to the AP.

WHO's in-house investigation into misconduct comes after other U.N. agencies have been rocked by harassment complaints.

At UNAIDS, chief Michel Sidibe agreed to step down after an independent report concluded in December that his "defective leadership" had created a toxic working environment, with staffers asserting there was rampant sexual harassment, bullying and abuse of power.

The author of the anonymous WHO emails also charged there were "crooked recruitment and selection" processes that were "tantamount to fraud, corruption and abuse of authority."

Transport costs

In the latest anonymous message, the author singled out the supposedly flawed hiring process of a senior director in WHO's emergencies department, suggesting that might have led to mistakes being made by incompetent officials involved in efforts to stop Ebola in Congo.

Some staffers feared that funds donated to stem the spread of the deadly virus "have not been used judiciously," the email said, warning such blunders could undermine WHO's credibility.

"A plane was hired to transport three vehicles from the warehouse in Dubai at the cost of $1 million US. Why would WHO ship vehicles from Dubai? We would appreciate the rationale when jeeps in DRC (Congo) can be purchased at $80,000 per vehicle," the email said, claiming that "corruption stories about logisticians and procurement in WHO's (Geneva emergencies department) are legendary."

Sarah Russell, a WHO spokeswoman, said WHO shipped 10 vehicles out of Dubai last May because there were no vehicles available for sale in Congo that met minimum safety standards at the time. She said it cost $237,801 to transport them.

David Webb, director of WHO's office of internal oversight, told staffers that Tedros had asked him "to conduct an appropriate investigation" into the issues raised in the emails. Webb said he and his team would scrutinize those accusations, in addition to the approximately 150 other claims that have been reported to his office this year.

'Nobody wants to talk because they're afraid'

"My team is trying their best to go to DRC (Congo), to go to where the allegations are with an effort to find the facts," he said.

The revelations about the alleged wrongdoing were likely to prompt discussions next week at WHO's executive board meeting at its Geneva headquarters. Russell said WHO regularly reports on "substantiated allegations arising from independent investigations" at its executive meetings.

Webb said the investigation would be conducted independently even though it would be done by WHO staffers.

Critics outside the organization felt that was not enough.

Paula Donovan, co-director of AIDS-Free World and its Code Blue campaign, which works to end impunity for U.N. personnel who commit sexual abuse, said Tedros was right to be concerned but "dead wrong to `instruct' WHO staff to investigate allegations made against WHO."

As one of the defendants, Tedros "obviously cannot be involved in assessing, investigating, prosecuting or judging," Donovan said.

Oyewale Tomori, a Nigerian virologist who previously worked at WHO and now serves on several of its advisory groups, wasn't surprised by the emails' claims of racism, sexism and corruption.

"After what I've seen at WHO, I have no doubt that everything in those emails is true," he said, although he had no evidence to prove the specific claims.

Tomori said he and his African colleagues had often been subjected to "slights that turned to slurs, embarrassing humiliations and rudeness that escalated to abuse" from fellow WHO staffers.

He predicted that without an independent investigation, more complaints would continue to spill out.

"People have known about these problems for a long time," he said. "But nobody wants to talk because they're afraid."